Craft Your Ideal Life with the Power of Strategic Thinking

Overview:

In the video “Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want,” Rainer Strack, a former Boston Consulting Group member, applies strategic thinking principles used in corporate boardrooms to personal life. He introduces a seven-step program to develop a life strategy on a single page, emphasizing that life strategy is about living a great life, not just winning. Strack delves into the importance of defining success, purpose, vision, assessing life portfolios, learning from best practices, making portfolio choices, and ensuring sustained change. He also discusses the PERMA-V model from positive psychology and the strategic life portfolio, offering practical examples and actionable insights to help individuals align their life choices with their vision for a great life.

Key Insights:

• Defining Success and Purpose: Strack emphasizes the significance of defining success and purpose in both corporate strategy and personal life. He encourages individuals to reflect on how they define a great life and their life purpose, setting the stage for creating a personalized life strategy.
• PERMA-V Model: Strack introduces the PERMA-V model from positive psychology, emphasizing the six elements – positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, and vitality – as crucial components of a great life. He encourages viewers to assess their lives based on these elements and adjust their priorities accordingly.
• Strategic Life Units and Portfolio: Strack introduces the concept of strategic life units, such as relationships, work, and hobbies, and highlights the importance of investing time, money, and energy into these units. He explains how individuals can assess the importance, satisfaction, and time invested in each unit to create a strategic life portfolio, offering a practical example of Tony, an engineer, to illustrate the process.
• Aligning Choices with Vision: Strack stresses the importance of aligning life choices with one’s vision for a great life. He discusses the significance of evaluating the satisfaction and time invested in various life units and making adjustments to create a life strategy that supports one’s purpose and vision.
• Preparation and Serendipity: Strack quotes Seneca, emphasizing the importance of knowing one’s direction in life even in uncertain times. He encourages viewers to be open to opportunities and serendipity while preparing for a great life through strategic thinking and planning.

Keywords:

• Strategic Thinking: The application of strategic principles to make decisions and achieve long-term success.
• Life Strategy: The integrated set of choices that positions an individual to live a great life.
• PERMA-V Model: A model from positive psychology comprising positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, achievement, and vitality.
• Strategic Life Units: Key areas of life, such as relationships, work, and hobbies, in which individuals invest time, money, and energy.
• Strategic Life Portfolio: A visual representation of the importance, satisfaction, and time invested in various strategic life units.